The Thing Nobody Talks About
So there I was, sitting in my buddy Mike’s restaurant at 2 PM on a Wednesday. The lunch rush was over, dinner prep hadn’t started yet, and Mike was doing that thing restaurant owners do – staring at receipts and looking stressed.
“Dude, I’m stuck,” he said. “I can’t raise prices again. My chicken sandwich is already twelve bucks. But I need to make more money or I’m screwed.”
I get it. Everyone’s dealing with this right now. Your costs are up, your customers are already complaining about prices everywhere, and the last thing you want is empty tables because you priced yourself out.
But Mike figured something out over the past year that changed everything. His sales are up 30% from last year, and he hasn’t changed a single price. Not one. Want to know what he did differently?
The Menu Thing That Nobody Does Right
Mike used to have this menu that was basically a novel. I’m talking about three pages, a tiny font, organized like someone just threw darts at a board. Customers would sit there forever trying to figure out what to order, and half the time they’d just pick something cheap because they got decision paralysis.
Then his sister – who works in marketing or something – came to visit. She took one look at his menu and said, “This is a mess. Your best stuff is buried at the bottom.”
So they redesigned it. Not some expensive consultant thing, just common sense. The dishes that make the most money? Those went in the spots where your eyes naturally go first. The descriptions got better too. Instead of “Grilled Chicken Breast,” it became “Herb-Crusted Chicken with Garlic Butter.” Same chicken, sounds way better.
Here’s the weird part – Mike added a $28 ribeye to his menu even though nobody in the neighbourhood would pay that much for steak. But suddenly his $18 salmon started selling like crazy. People saw the $28 steak and thought, “Eh, the salmon’s reasonable.”
The whole menu redesign cost him maybe 200 bucks to reprint. Sales went up almost immediately.
You know what else? Those digital menu boards aren’t just for McDonald’s anymore. Mike’s friend has one of those systems where he can change prices and descriptions without reprinting anything. Pretty smart if you ask me.
Training Your Staff to Not Be Annoying
Most servers hate suggesting extra stuff because they think it makes them look desperate or pushy. But the good ones? They’re not selling – they’re just being helpful.
There’s this server at Mike’s place, Jessica, who’s incredible at this. She never asks if you want appetizers. Instead, she’ll say something like, “Just so you know, the wings are really good today and they come out fast if you’re hungry.” See? She’s giving you information, not trying to squeeze money out of you.
Or she’ll notice you looking at the beer list and say, “That IPA pairs really well with the burger if you’re into hoppy beers.” It doesn’t feel like a sales pitch because it’s not. She’s just helping you have a better meal.
Jessica makes about 40% more in tips than the other servers, and her tables spend more money. But it’s because people like eating at her tables. They feel taken care of.
Mike started having his servers eat everything on the menu – on the house – so they could give real recommendations. “I love the fish tacos” hits different than “The fish tacos are popular.” It’s the difference between a friend’s suggestion and a corporate script.
Training doesn’t have to be some big formal thing. Just teach people to pay attention and actually care about whether customers have a good time.
The Customer Thing That Actually Works
Mike tried one of those app-based loyalty programs a few years back. Total disaster. Half his customers couldn’t figure out how to download it, the other half forgot their passwords. The company that made it went out of business six months later.
Now? He’s got a simple punch card system. Buy nine meals, get the tenth free. Old school, right? But it works. People love those little cards. They keep them in their wallets, show them to their friends. “I’m only two punches away from a free dinner!”
But the real secret isn’t the punch cards. It’s that Mike remembers people. He knows that the guy who comes in every Tuesday gets his burger medium-rare, no onions. He knows the elderly couple who sits by the window share the salmon because it’s too big for one person. When the high school kids come in after games, he doesn’t give them attitude – he treats them like real customers.
That stuff matters more than any app ever will. People want to feel like they matter, especially when they’re spending money they don’t really have.
Some places use fancy customer management systems to track this stuff, and that’s cool if you’re into technology. But honestly? Just paying attention works pretty well too.
The Money You're Probably Wasting
This one’s going to sound boring, but Mike was basically lighting money on fire every week and didn’t even know it.
Food waste, portion sizes, ordering too much of stuff that doesn’t sell – it adds up fast. Mike started writing down what he was throwing away each day. Not some complicated spreadsheet, just a notebook. “Tuesday: two orders of fish, half a pan of rice, bunch of lettuce that went bad.”
After a month, he saw the patterns. He was making way too much rice on slow days. His portion sizes were huge – people couldn’t finish their meals anyway. He was ordering vegetables based on what he thought he’d need instead of what actually sold.
Small changes, but they saved him probably $300-400 a week. That’s like giving yourself a raise without selling any more food.
The energy bill thing was crazy too. His old lights were costing him a fortune. Switched to LEDs, got a thermostat that actually works, started turning stuff off when the restaurant was closed. Saved him maybe $200 a month. Not glamorous, but money is money.
According to some industry survey I read, restaurants that actually track their waste can improve their profit margins by 4-5%. That’s real money.
Working with Other Businesses (Without Being Weird About It)
The dry cleaner next to Mike’s place was always packed during lunch. People dropping off clothes, picking up suits, whatever. But they didn’t sell food.
So Mike started making sandwich platters for the dry cleaner’s customers. Nothing fancy – just good sandwiches, reasonable prices, ready to grab and go. The dry cleaner gets a cut, Mike gets new customers, everybody wins.
He also does breakfast catering for the office building down the street. Started small – just coffee and pastries once a week. Now he’s doing lunch meetings, birthday parties, all kinds of stuff. Easy money because he knows exactly how much to make and when.
Sometimes the best opportunities are right next to you. Mike looked around his block and asked himself, “Who needs what I’ve got?” Turns out, lots of people.
What Actually Happened
It’s been about eighteen months since Mike started changing things. His food costs are lower, his customers are happier, and he’s making more money than he ever has. Still hasn’t raised his prices.
The crazy part? None of this was rocket science. It was just paying attention to his business instead of just running it day to day. Looking at what was working, what wasn’t, and making small changes that added up.
Your restaurant’s probably got more potential than you think. Maybe it’s fixing your menu, training your staff better, or just stopping the money leaks you don’t even notice. Most of this stuff doesn’t cost much to try.
If you want someone to look at your numbers and see what you’re missing, these restaurant consultants have helped a bunch of places figure this out. Sometimes you just need someone who’s not buried in the day-to-day operations to spot the obvious stuff.
But honestly? Start with the simple things. Clean up your menu. Train your people to actually care. Stop wasting food and money. See what happens.
